Byzantine economy

This article examines the merchant and commodity networks of Trebizond as well as routes at the regional, interregional, and international levels that connected the city to Constantinople, the rest the Black Sea, Armenia, the Near East and the Caucuses in the early Middle Ages. After a brief survey of the commercial history of Trebizond from the late antique period to the eleventh century, the economy of the Pontic region and its commercial exchanges with various regions are investigated in detail. The available evidence shows that the list of commodities exchanged between Pontos and its neighbours were longer, and the networks of merchants and routes were more complex than assumed thus far. Trebizond's advantage as a port town for landlocked territories to its south and east (especially the large Iranian and Iraqi markets at the end of the Silk/Spice Route), as well as its close ties with Constantinople and the rest of the Black Sea, established the Pontic capital as a vital emporium. Benefiting from the increasing economic development in Byzantium and its neighbours, the prosperity of the Pontic region and is main city Trebizond is most visible in the period from the mid-ninth to the mid-eleventh centuries.

"Il saggio traccia una sintesi della civiltà bizantina, dalla fondazione di Costantinopoli alla Quarta Crociata. A tutti gli effetti continuazione dell'impero romano, Bisanzio riuscì ad assimilare positivamente le Völkerwanderungen che determinano il crollo della prima Roma, facendo della multietnicità e del dinamismo verticale delle élites un punto di forza e una costante. Se nell'effimero progetto giustinianeo di riunificazione dell'impero universale prevalevano ancora una gravitazione occidentale e un’ottica vetero-romana, il superamento, a partire da Eraclio, della prospettiva italocentrica segnò il vero inizio dell'età bizantina. A Eraclio vanno ascritti due traguardi fondamentali: la creazione del sistema dei temi e il definitivo soggiogamento dell’impero persiano, nella gran parte dei cui ex-territori subentrerà ben presto, tuttavia, il nuovo interlocutore arabo. Tra il VII e l’VIII secolo, con l'accentuazione dei tratti aneuropei in campo economico, sociale, artistico, culturale, si assiste alla vera e propria nascita della concezione bizantina del potere. L’età dell'iconomachia, a lungo giudicata “buia”, coincide in realtà con una fase di prosperità economica: il compiersi del processo di deurbanizzazione e la trasformazione territoriale favoriscono l’accentuarsi della vocazione statalista e predispongono il grande “risorgimento culturale” del IX-X secolo. La sconfitta dell'iconoclasmo vede anche la sconfitta del platonismo e l'affermarsi dell'aristotelismo come filosofia ufficiale del cristianesimo medievale. Il regno di Basilio I e della dinastia macedone segna la cosiddetta "età d'oro" dell'impero bizantino. Il X e XI secolo conoscono più tormentati rapporti tra stato e chiesa, che culminano nello scisma del 1054 tra chiesa d’oriente e chiesa d’occidente (in definitiva sfida del patriarca Cerulario al basileus) e un incremento politico ed economico della nobiltà militare provinciale, che si affermerà definitivamente con la dinastia dei Comneni. Proprio con il regno comneno, in particolare con la concessione dei privilegi commerciali a Venezia da parte di Alessio I, deve farsi coincidere l’inizio della fase calante dell'economia bizantina, ininterrotta fino al XV secolo, simmetrica e inversa all'ascesa del protocapitalismo occidentale dei traffici, cui l’antica egemonia di Bisanzio sarà progressivamente sottomessa e la sopravvivenza stessa della basileia infine sacrificata. Al riaccendersi della prospettiva di restaurazione dell'impero universale corrisponderà – nelle forme del ripiegamento sociale e dell'indebolimento statale – maggiore vulnerabilità nella politica pratica. Con queste premesse Bisanzio subirà, nel 1204, la forza distruttiva della “deviazione” della Quarta Crociata: una catastrofe inaspettata e forse per questo ancora più traumatica della definitiva caduta del 1453 sotto i turchi osmani.

This essay outlines the history of Byzantine civilisation from the founding of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade.  In every way a continuation of the Roman empire, Byzantium succeeded in assimilating to positive effect the Völkerwanderungen that determined the fall of the first Rome, creating a point of strength and allegiance out of the multi-ethnic, ascendant vertical dynamism of the élites.  If gravitation toward the West and an antiquated Roman perspective still prevailed in Justinian’s ephemeral project to reunify the universal empire, the shift beyond the Italo-centric perspective from Heraclius on marked the true beginning of the Byzantine era.  Two fundamental achievements are ascribed to Heraclius: the creation of the system of themes and the definitive subjugation of the Persian empire, to whose ex-territories, however, the new Arab interlocutor would soon succeed.  Between the 7th and 8th centuries, with the accentuation of non-European traits in economic, social, artistic, and cultural fields, we begin to see the emergence of the authentic Byzantine concept of power.  Long considered “dark,” the age of iconomachy coincided, in reality, with a phase of economic prosperity.  The culmination of the process of de-urbanisation and transformation of the territory favoured the accentuation of a state-centred vocation and set the stage for the great “cultural revival” of the 9th and 10th centuries.  The defeat of iconoclasm also saw the defeat of Platonism and the affirmation of Aristotelianism as the official philosophy of Medieval Christianity.  The reign of Basil I and the Macedonian dynasty marked the so-called “golden age” of the Byzantine empire.  The 10th and 11th centuries saw more tormented relations between church and state, culminating in the Schism of 1054 between the Eastern and Western churches (ultimately the patriarch Cerularius’ challenge to the basileus) and a political and economic increase in the provincial military nobility that would assert itself definitively with the Comnenian dynasty.  The beginning of the decline of the Byzantine economy - uninterrupted until the 15th century, symmetrical in nature and the inverse of the ascent of Western trade proto-capitalism to which the ancient hegemony of Byzantium would be gradually subjugated and the very survival of the basileia ultimately sacrificed - began precisely with the Comnenian dynasty, in particular, with the concession of commercial privileges to Venice by Alexius I.  To the reawakening of the prospect of a restoration of the universal empire would correspond – in the form of social withdrawal and weakening of the state – greater vulnerability in political practice. Under these conditions Byzantium would, in 1204, be subjected to the destructive force of the “detour” of the Fourth Crusade: an unforeseen catastrophe and perhaps for this reason even more traumatic than the definitive fall in 1453 at the hands of the Osmanli Turks. 
"

Στον βυζαντινό και λατινοκρατούμενο ελληνικό χώρο, μετά την Άλωση του 1204, ο συγχρωτισμός με τους επήλυδες ‘επιχειρηματίες’ της Ευρώπης, καθώς και οι τεράστιες απώλειες εδαφών που υφίστανται οι ανώτερες τάξεις, οδηγεί στην ανεύρεση νέων πηγών πλουτισμού, και την ανάδειξη οικογενειών όπως οι Zaccaria, οι Gattilusi, οι Acciaiuoli κ.ά.
Η οικογένεια Zaccaria ήταν ακόμη μια οικογένεια προερχόμενη από την οικονομική άρχουσα τάξη της Γένουας, η οποία προσπαθεί, χωρίς ιδιαίτερη επιτυχία, να ανταγωνιστεί την μεγάλη αντίπαλό της, Βενετία, για την κυριαρχία στο εμπόριο της ανατολικής Μεσογείου.
Η σύνδεση της οικογένειας με το Βυζάντιο ξεκινά λίγο μετά τα μέσα του 13ου αιώνα, κατά την υπογραφή της συνθήκης του Νυμφαίου (1261), ενώ το 1275, ο Μιχαήλ Η΄ παραχώρησε στον Manuele Zaccaria την άδεια για εκμετάλλευση των ορυχείων στυπτηρίας στην περιοχή της Φώκαιας. Από το 1304 εως το 1329, η κυριαρχία της οικογένειας επεκτείνεται στη Χίο και τη Λέσβο, εντάσσοντας το εμπόριο της μαστίχας στην οικονομική αυτοκρατορίας τους.
Ταυτόχρονα, οι Zaccaria αναπτύσσουν στενότατους δεσμούς με την παποσύνη, εξασφαλίζοντας πολλαπλά οικονομικά προνόμια, ενώ αναλαμβάνουν στρατιωτική δράση εναντίον των Οθωμανών, εμφανιζόμενοι ως υπέρμαχοι της Χριστιανοσύνης. Στο απόγειο της, η εμπορική αυτοκρατορία των Zaccaria, έχει να επιδείξει μεγάλα οχυρωματικά έργα, πολλαπλές νομισματικές κοπές, σύνδεση με άλλες λατινικές οικογένειες του ελλαδικού χώρου και έντονη διπλωματική δραστηριότητα.
Η ιστορία της οικογένειας Zaccaria και η δράση της στον βυζαντινό χώρο είναι ενδεικτική μιας ολόκληρης ομάδας ανθρώπων που έδρασαν στην ανατολική Μεσόγειο κατά τον Ύστερο Μεσαίωνα, και παρουσιάζουν ένα καινούριο και πολύπλευρο κοινωνικό προφίλ.


The Crusaders coming to the East, led to significant changes, not only to the political status quo, but throughout public and private life. The economy, in particular, is transformed, since, besides traditional economic activities, new concepts were introduced in the Byzantine Empire, like credit. Branches of the commercial and banking families are settled in the East, where they can easily spread their influence and eliminate their competition.
In the Byzantine and Latin occupied Greece, after 1204, mingling with the newcomer ‘entrepreneurs’ from the West, as well as huge territorial losses that the local upper classes suffered, led to the adoption of new money-making endeavors and the rise of families like the Zaccaria, the Gattilusi, the Acciaiuoli etc.
The Zaccaria family came from the financial upper class of Genoa, a city trying to compete with Venice, for the eastern Mediterranean commerce. The family’s ties with Byzantium began shortly after the mid-13th century, during negotiations for the signing of the treaty of Nymphaion (1261). In 1275, the emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus (1259-1282) granted Manuele Zaccaria the right to exploit the alum mines in Phocaea. From 1304 to 1329, the family’s dominion was extended to the islands of Chios and Lesbos, adding the invaluable mastiha trade to their economic empire.
At the same time, the Zaccaria formed strong ties with the Papacy, securing multiple financial benefits, and undertook military action against the Ottomans, appearing as the defenders of Christianity in the region. To its apogee, the Zaccaria rule established great fortifications, issued currency, was connected with prominent families of the Latin Greece, and excelled as diplomats.
The history of the Zaccaria family and their activity is indicative of a larger group of people residing in the eastern Mediterranean in the Late Middle Ages, presenting a new and complex social profile.

This summary aims to present the outlines of the trade developed between the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands with the Byzantine Empire in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Emphasizes the primacy of the Crown of Aragon in the trade, with Mallorca and Barcelona at the top.

The Peloponnese, a province of the Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries, was divided into three distinct political entities after 1204: the Frankish Principality of Achaia, the Venetian colonies of Modon and Coron, and the Byzantine lands in the southeast. The number and size of cities in the Peloponnese during the 11th and 12th centuries expanded, and the establishment of the new political entities of the 13th century did not hinder the development of its urban centers. New urban centers appeared, and the dynamics of the old urban centers witnessed a major shift. The focus of this paper is on port towns, since the majority of the available data derive from them, and aims to investigate the economic centrality of the port towns in the Peloponnese in the context of their environs, economic activities, and their position in the eastern Mediterranean exchange system. The theoretical framework is based on concepts of network theory, centrality, and economic complexity, as well as on a thorough evaluation of the material and textual evidence. In doing so, the economic profile of each central place is reconstructed, as well as a comparison between them.

This chapter examines the place of soldiers in the society, economy and culture of civilian communities during the Middle Byzantine period, and the implications for the ‘militarisation’ of social relationships. It explores how the localisation and integration of provincial soldiers in towns and villages of Anatolia from the mid-seventh century, through kinship, personal associations, landownership/-holding and communal tax liabilities, affected the dynamics of soldier–civilian interactions and socio-cultural homogeneity. While legal distinctions between soldier and civilian remained clearly demarcated, insofar as military status accorded judicial privileges and fiscal immunities upon a soldier’s person, family and household, the intricacies of the Byzantine military-fiscal apparatus created significant ambiguities. In particular, the rootedness of soldiers’ in village communities, together with soldiers’ partial dependence on private or familial resources to fulfil their military service, created circumstances in which military-fiscal obligations could be transferred directly and personally onto civilian neighbours. Correspondingly, the very presence of soldiers in rural society, and especially the vulnerability of poorer soldiers to exploitation or coercion by provincial elites, could draw soldiers away from official duties and shape local power relationships.

This study of the status and peace-time functions of Byzantine soldiers (300-1200) examines diverse interactions between military personnel and civilian society. Acknowledging various categories and shifting contemporary definitions of “soldier”, a survey of socio-cultural backgrounds, modes of recruitment, terms of service and institutional environments distinguishes differences in rates and methods of remuneration, fiscal-legal privileges, socio-economic standing and professional identities. The vexed question of military landholdings becomes of pivotal significance for locating soldiers in agrarian society. Official spheres of military-civilian relations include policing and internal security, enforcement of religious policies, interventions in imperial politics and regional economic impact. Broader consideration of military sociology explores how the presence and behaviour of soldiers, on and off duty, affected the socio-economic patterns, cultural complexion and power relationships of urban and rural communities, and reflected soldiers’ varying levels of integration into civilian society, through origin, kinship, property and culture, mirroring longer-term changes in the composition of Byzantine armies.

It may look strange to investigate economic aspects of a specific market type prima facie. But it is not, because panegyric markets were to some extent under either episcopal or monastic control and fixed in time and space to the feast day of the respective local Church, and did therefore not follow strict economic patterns alone. Due to being organised by the Church, they are mostly mentioned in hagiography and theological writings; in most cases without signalling their economic role, the purchasers and sellers, the goods traded, and the money involved. Furthermore, panegyric markets were a common practise in the Byzantine world and they are rarely described in any detail.
Therefore, it is hard to write a concise economic history of these markets in Byzantium. The aim of this study is to reveal the economic mechanisms acting in these feast markets and to explore how economic aspects did influence the institution of the panegyris over time. As a prerequisite to this, a comprehensive list of the known Byzantine panegyreis has to form the basis of this study. Fortunately, we have more than only cursory information on two specific Byzantine panegyric markets, the one in Thessalonica and the one in Euchaϊta, which will help to tackle the major issues encountered.

Using the evidence coming from the archives of Mount Athos, this chapter studies the fortifications, in particular towers, which were built in private estates. Focusing on late Byzantine southeastern Macedonia, it discusses the function of these fortifications and their significance for settlement and economy. It is suggested that most attested fortifications belonged to the administrative centers of estates. Built by lay or monastic landowners, they provided protection from raiders to the estate’s personnel and assets as well as to the peasants settled there. A dense network of estate fortifications was apparently in place by the thirteenth century; construction intensified in the fourteenth century in response to increased insecurity. These fortifications contributed in maintaining the exploitation of some of the region’s most productive estates.

Επιλογή, εποπτεία και επιμέλεια της αφιερωμένης στη Βυζαντινή Περίοδο ενότητας (253 σελ.), η οποία περιλαμβάνει έξι μελέτες (τριών διδακτόρων της Βυζαντινής Ιστορίας και ενός Αρχαιολόγου-Νομισματολόγου) και εκτενή Βιβλιογραφία.

Selection, supervision and editing of the dedicated to the Byzantine Period section (253 p.p.), which includes six studies (by three doctors in Byzantine History and an archaeologist-numismatist) and extensive Bibliography.

Late Roman/Early Byzantine Halasarna - The amphoras evidence
The excavation of the University of Athens at Halasarna (modern Kardamaina) in Cos Island brought to light many commercial amphoras, vessels of storage and transport of goods, such as wine and oil.
From the 4th to the 6th c. many goods had been imported from Asia Minor and Cyprus, Palestine and North Africa, sometimes in larger and sometimes smaller quantities. In addition, there was a small scale local production of amphoras for the daily needs of the settlement.
Following the devastating earthquake of 554, the life of the Halasarna changes dramatically. Halasarna  produced in large quantities two types of amphoras . Its workshops, in fact, are the only ones located until now that produced stamped amphoras in the Early Byzantine Mediterranean.

The book represents result of long-term work of the other above diverse sourses, relating to a history of Byzantium. Assembled on the rare materials are entered the reader in the world daily and consequently little-known party of life the Romaion empire from the moment of its occurrence befoure time florishing in 9-10th senturies and for the first time allow recreate the world of the byzantine shop-keeper, dealer, handicraftsmen, namely: spatial, history-ecological and organizational structure of trade-craft objects. It is visual present as the urban trade areas - markets, quarters, rows of stalls, other "trade points", shops - workshops, trade - warehouse, hotel structures, fairs - panigires and also allows in a new fashion to evaluate a condition of byzantian society in epoch of transition from Antiquity to a Middle Ages.

"The statistical analysis is based on binary time series (1 = presence of an event in that year, 0 = absence) for extreme weather events, plague epidemics, major earthquakes, ruler change and major events of internal unrest for the Byzantine Empire for the period 1200-1453 CE (resp. the Empire of Nicaea for the period 1204-1261 CE).
Mean waiting times between years with events were calculated on the basis of an expectation test for a poisson process for simple columns of event times for the five phenomena.
Probabilities of transition between years with events and years without were calculated with the help of Markov chain analysis on the basis of the above-mentioned time series.
The simple model of possible influences of other time event series on the time series of internal unrest was created on the basis of crosscorrelation tests between these time series; indicated is the coefficient of determination (R²) for the cross correlation and the time lag (in years) between the time series for which this coefficient is valid.
The entire project is work in progress and includes also similar analyses for other medieval polities during this period (until now China, Egypt, England and Hungary; cf. also J. Preiser-Kapeller, (Not so) Distant Mirrors: a complex macro-comparison of polities and political, economic and religious systems in the crisis of the 14th century. Working paper for the International Conference “The Angevin Dynasty (14th Century)” in Targoviste (Romania), October 21st-23rd 2011; online:  http://www.academia.edu/512025/_Not_so_Distant_Mirrors_a_complex_macro-comparison_of_polities_and_political_economic_and_religious_systems_in_the_crisis_of_the_14th_century – also with indication of data sources for these calculations). Comments are always welcome.
All calculations and graphs were done by the author with the help of the software programmes Microsoft-Excel* and PAST* (Version 2.17); any usage of material or data only with approval of the author!
"

On the island of Lemnos during the Late Byzantine period the land property of each athonite monastery is organised in agricultural units (metochia) that constitute their main supply source of essential products.

The architecture of metochia generally describes a group of buildings that serves various purposes: housing, defense, production, manufacture and storage. According to monastic documents the metochia of Lemnos are a complex with chapel, residences, mills, wine vats and storehouse, organised around a courtyard enclosed by a simple stone wall or, occasionally, by a fortified enclosure (kastellion, kastellos) with tower (pyrgos). Towers were used as refuges in case of raid, as observation posts (vigla) but mostly for the storage of agricultural products.

The chapel serves the religious needs of the monks and laymen, because metochia are small monastic foundations. The courtyard provides space for the movement of people, animals and loads, while offers a shelter in case of threat, when it is surrounded by a fortified enclosure. There are resindences for the monks (kellia) –probably of two storeys (anogeokatoga)– and laymen (oikimata) next to the complex. Nearby wine vats are built or watermills or windmills for the proccessing of the agricultural production. There is also a fountain for water supply. Appropriate places (mandrostasia, mandres) are used for animal husbandry, e.g. goats and sheep.

The monasteries maintain metochia also inside the urban centres of Lemnos, e.g. Palaiokastron, Kotzinas, with two-storied residences and chapel around a closed courtyard. Furthermore, similar properties kept in the commercial district (emporion) extra muros and together with harbour installations (skala), ensure the unhindered transportation of agricultural production from metochia to the monasteries in Mount Athos and the distribution of production surplus to the nearby markets.

Nomos (Rhodion) nautikos is a legal text which was probably written between 600 and 800 A.D. The exact date of its origin cannot be established. Historical science does not know during whose rule Maritime law was declared the official document and where it was passed. It is also unclear if Maritime law was the official document or a private compilation.
The contents of Maritime law indicate that it deals with problems related to maritime business and trade. Some of the rules related to navigation and maritime trade were taken over from Justinian’s law. During the early medieval period some of the rules were based on Roman law and they also appear in Maritime law. Despite that, Maritime law is based on Roman law. Because of the circumstances in the early medieval period, Maritime law deviates from some of the traditional rules of Roman maritime law. In Roman law, contribution principle is applied in case of iactus only, and in Byzantine law, it is also applied to ship collision, shipwreck, damage caused by pirates, thunder, etc.
Key words: Nomos (Rhodion) nautikos, maritime trade, insurance, contribution, collision, shipwreck, damage caused by pirates, thunderclap.

The positions of the Greek Christian Fathers, especially those of the fourth century, on savings and hoarding exerted long influence on Byzantine relevant concepts. Facing socio-economic issues of intense inequality, they attempted to reconcile Christian ethics with ancient Greek philosophical ideas, while admitting the influence of the monastic movement. Their perceptions formed an ideal, in which hoarding wealth is damnable, while the rich as the ‘manager’ of common resources ought to redistribute them through charity. Although the Fathers generally did not try to dissuade believers from investing their savings in interest-bearing lending, they tried to show that the ‘investment’ of wealth and ‘usury’ in heaven were much preferred activities.
Perceptions of trade, this dynamic element of a pre-industrial economy, serves in this article as a representative criterion of the degree of productive or non-productive saving, especially from the middle Byzantine period onwards. At times scholars related to Byzantine aristocracy reproduced the patristic ideals, implying that social conventions disrupted the exoneration of trade, and hence the investment of savings within it. On the other hand, the hagiographical texts and ‘beneficial tales’ seem to move away from the notion of finite wealth, evident in patristic thought, and convey the reward for charity from Heaven to earth. Moreover, as lay literature, they praised investing savings in trade which was appropriately conducted. It took, however, the Ottoman expansion and the loss of land property, in order for the aristocracy, the largest potential investor, to fully exonerate trade and financial activities, and to allocate its savings to them.

ll volume è l’esito di un progetto interdisciplinare sulla produzione,
la circolazione e il commercio del vetro in Italia meridionale, le cui
conclusioni sono state presentate nel corso di un seminario internazionale, tenutosi il 29-30 maggio 2019 all’Università della Calabria.
Reperti e strutture di produzione di diversi scavi, realizzati in contesti longobardi, bizantini e arabi, sono qui presentati con un approccio stratigrafico-contestuale, tipologico-formale e fisico-chimico nella
prospettiva di fornire uno sguardo di sintesi sull’industria del vetro in
età tardo antica e alto medievale nella parte meridionale della penisola e in Sicilia e di offrire un termine di confronto con l’Italia settentrionale, la Dalmazia e l’Illirico.
I risultati sottolineano il network commerciale dell’Italia meridionale
e la connessione permanente con il centro dell’impero bizantino, con
un conseguente ritardo, rispetto al nord della Penisola, nell’introduzione di una tecnologia medievale con vetro a ceneri.